Vikings claim Ben Tate off waivers after he was cut by Browns

Having lost their old franchise back this week, the Vikings are taking a chance on a guy who thought he was somebody else’s.

According to Field Yates of ESPN, the Vikings have claimed running back Ben Tate off waivers from the Browns.

Even though Tate’s a vested veteran, all players released after the trade deadline have to pass through waivers, to prevent shenanigans.

He should lend some heft to the Vikings’ ground game, which has managed sufficiently without Adrian Peterson this year, with Matt Asiata and Jerick McKinnon filling in.

Tate signed with the Browns this offseason, thinking he’d be the lead back after sitting behind Arian Foster for four years in Houston.

That didn’t last long, as rookies Isaiah Crowell and Terrance West took on a larger share of the load, which led to some complaints from Tate. Those complaints came to a head yesterday when he was released.

Tate has shown workhorse ability in the past, and it’s a low-risk move for the Vikings now.

After losing Adrian for the season to that cretin g****ll, this makes sense… it was either him or Blount, and when you hear teammates saying it was addition by subtraction, the choice was obvious. Instant upgrade over Asiata.

Interesting signing, though I would prefer to see McKinnon run the ball as much as possible. Meanwhile, saundman2000 is offended that the Vikings might not commit to AD (abusive dad) for roughly twice as much as a running back is worth into the indefinite future. Seems reasonable; it’s not like you’d want to use that $15 million you save by cutting AD to put a decent o-line and receivers around the franchise qb you’re trying to develop.

I know there are a lot of fans upset by the whole Peterson thing, but there is some pretty good silver lining.

While Peterson had great talent, its proven that it takes more than RBs to win championships. The Vikings with McKinnon and Asiata have decent production. They may not get the home run plays as frequent as AP.

They can get him off the books and in my opinion Jennings should be right behind him 6 TDs in the 25 games. Thats One TD for every 3 Million guaranteed.

If the Vikings are going to get contenders in the NFC they need to do a lot better job drafting. Trading back into the first round isn’t working out, and its burning extra picks where they could add depth on that OL, more consistant WRs or Secondary that is lacking.

Next season is a chance for new starts for a lot of people that need it. Good luck.

“Well, Indy, that means you get Blount…..” Look at the stats! TRich is having, by his standards, a MONSTER year. Almost 3.5 YPC and almost 44 Yards per game. Not a bad set of downs for one of the top backs!

Just because dumb fans keep saying that the Vikings are super bowl bound surely shows that we have a lot of dumb fans. I knew from day one we hired Zimmer that we wouldn’t be going to the playoffs anytime soon. Our team is in its trial an error phase. Most teams go through it and some are lucky to be hot off the gates. The trail and error stage is seeing who you got that you inherited from the previous regime and who you signed and drafted. After a year of knowing what you have to work with and not the next two years are the most critical of any new coach. In this phase you start making critical choices and figuring out who fits in the schemes on offense and defense after seeing a year of production. So the Vikings are just figuring out things and by 2017 if we don’t make the playoffs then its back to the drawing board.

Interesting signing, though I would prefer to see McKinnon run the ball as much as possible. Meanwhile, saundman2000 is offended that the Vikings might not commit to AD (abusive dad) for roughly twice as much as a running back is worth into the indefinite future. Seems reasonable; it’s not like you’d want to use that $15 million you save by cutting AD to put a decent o-line and receivers around the franchise qb you’re trying to develop.
———————–
Oh yeah, show me a team that got themselves a nice 0-line and WR’s with 15 million…

As for others thinking the 2, now 3 running backs are doing a good enough job, did you watch the last game? They couldn’t even run through the Bears!

Have to laugh at all the trolls saying crap like “this will fix it” or “that will start the dynasty”. With the exception of a possibly delusional Tate, no one anywhere is saying this is anything more than adding some depth at a position with a couple of slightly nicked up players. Pretty much what ANY midseason waiver claim is.

And, the few that are saying Tate was dumb to sign with the Vikes, um,…duh, you are idiots. It was a waiver claim. Tate had no choice in this, unless he would choose to retire.

They has talent, he was a 2nd round pick just 4 years ago. It didn’t cost them anything (i.e. draft pick) and he no doubt has something the prove. He also fills a void that Asiata and McKinnon have tried to fill (admirably), but one is classic short yardage back and the other a very good 3rd down back. Tate is basically a faster Asiata and between all 3 give the Vikings more options. Nice pickup.

As for Peterson, the Vikings showed their loyalty by paying him for 9 games while he was out. They have stood by him every way. This pickup has nothing to do with Peterson’s future, it is all about this year.

Why? Mckinnon is the future there. Let the kid continue to get more involved in their play calling (when NORV finally realizes the kid can be something special) and reap the rewards when he’s making life easier on the qb like their former rb did.